Cheap Earbuds Suck
Gizmodo has a comparison up of replacement earbuds to the ghastly buggers that come free with almost every MP3 player out there. However, their conclusion is that those ubiquitous bright white iPod earphones actually sound quite good… when compared to a bunch of other crappy earphones. The comments in the story have some interesting recommendations though (but naturally span the range from clueless Britney fan to overly prodigal audiophile)
What would be really interesting to see is a review encompassing the key $20-$50 range, which is more typical of people who want decent sound quality without paying extortionate and exorbitant amounts of money. I’ve been pretty happy with my $45 Sennheisers. They’re about 3967 times more comfortable than the ergonomic monstrosities which I got with my player, and sound a hell of a lot better.They also seem like a good balance between cost and quality, given that they tend to be used in a noisy environment.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Sony makes an excellent set at around $55 dollars. Only problems are that it requires an extension (included) for anything above a foot or so, and it uses the sometimes convenient right-earbud-around-the-neck setup.
Definitely worth getting, though. Sennheiser also has a great (but neon-green) sport line.